* § 370-aa. State heating fuel crisis assistance. 1. The commissioner
shall establish a state program to provide heating fuel related crisis
assistance to households whose total income from all sources is between
one hundred twenty-five percent and two hundred percent of the federal
community services administration poverty guidelines and who have not
received a grant for heating fuel assistance during the nineteen hundred
seventy-nine--nineteen hundred eighty winter from any other emergency or
energy assistance program. To the extent funds are available, such
household may apply and be eligible for assistance if the household is
threatened with shut-off or nondelivery of heating fuel due to
nonpayment and in the case of a one person household, the household's
liquid resources do not exceed one thousand five hundred dollars or in
the case of households of more than one person liquid resources do not
exceed two thousand two hundred fifty dollars. Liquid resources shall
mean those resources which are in cash or are financial instruments
which are convertible to cash.

2. Eligible households with incomes between one hundred twenty-five
percent and one hundred fifty percent of the federal community services
administration poverty guidelines may receive a total benefit not to
exceed two hundred dollars; eligible households with incomes between one
hundred fifty per cent and one hundred seventy-five percent of the
federal community services administration poverty guidelines may receive
a total benefit not to exceed one hundred fifty dollars; and eligible
households with incomes between one hundred seventy-five percent and two
hundred percent of the federal community services administration poverty
guidelines may receive a total benefit not to exceed one hundred
dollars. Eligible households which pay for heat directly may receive
benefits in the form of direct payment to suppliers of home heating
fuels. All households may receive assistance in the form of cash up to
fifty dollars for warm clothing, blankets, replacement of broken window
panes, firewood, temporary shelter, emergency repairs to heating
equipment, nutrition, health and other supportive services. In no event
shall the sum of assistance under this program made to or on behalf of
any household exceed the actual amount needed to ameliorate the heating
fuel crisis.

3. a. Assistance may also be provided to households whose rent
includes heat. Such assistance may be provided only in the event that
the owner of the rented dwelling has abandoned responsibility for paying
heating costs. Such assistance may be in the form of emergency heating
fuel deliveries.

b. Such assistance shall be provided for a period not to exceed
fifteen days, in order to allow time for appropriate action to be taken
by city or county officials.

c. In such cases where the landlord or owner has abandoned his
responsibility for paying heating costs, and where tenants or landlords
can verify that at least sixty percent of the building's households are
at or below two hundred percent of the federal community services
administration poverty guidelines, the buildings may qualify.

d. The department shall make all reasonable efforts to recover from
the landlord, emergency expenditures for heating fuel.

4. This program shall be administered at the county level and in the
city of New York by the local departments of social services. Local
departments shall distribute funds allocated for heating fuel crisis
assistance to eligible households for the payment of heating fuel costs
as described in subdivisions two and three of this section. The
department shall prepare application forms for use by the local
departments and instructions to be used in completing applications.
Certification of eligibility and authorization of payment shall be the
responsibility of the local departments. The local departments shall
provide for preliminary screening and assistance to applicants by
community action agencies, area offices on aging and other community
agencies.

5. The department and local departments shall contract for the
provision of an outreach program to inform potentially eligible
households of the availability of heating fuel crisis assistance. The
department shall enter into an agreement with the state office for the
aging which will provide outreach to the elderly and with community
action agencies and other community based agencies for outreach to other
potentially eligible households. The department shall develop program
materials which will be made available to utilities, fuel oil dealers
and community agencies for the purpose of informing the public about the
availability of crisis assistance.

6. Elderly persons over the age of sixty shall be a priority class to
be served by this program. To insure the priority becomes operational,
local departments shall provide directly or when appropriate through
contract the following special services to the elderly: priority in
scheduling appointments; arrangements for transportation when no other
transportation is available; intake and certification at home or through
a representative for those elderly who are homebound.

7. Payments made under this program shall not be considered as income
or resource for the purpose of determining eligibility for benefits
under any income maintenance or medical assistance program.

8. The department shall be responsible for monitoring the local
implementation of this program. All cases including a declaration of
income shall be subject to a redetermination and verification of income
eligibility. To insure that the elderly receive priority, the department
shall periodically review the population certified to receive benefits
and in districts where the elderly are not being served shall, with the
state office for aging, take appropriate actions to ensure that the
elderly are served. The department and local districts shall maintain a
system of records for this program which is separate from any other
emergency or energy related assistance program.

No later than July thirty-first, nineteen hundred eighty, the
department shall provide the governor and legislature with a report on
the state heating fuel crisis assistance program's implementation and
use in each district. Such report shall include the total number of
households and the number of elderly households served in each income
category, the amount and type of assistance provided to each household
and the activities and expenditures for all administering and outreach
agencies in each district.

9. The department shall promulgate all regulations necessary for
operation of the state heating fuel crisis assistance program which are
consistent with the state plan for the nineteen hundred eighty community
services administration energy crisis assistance program.

10. Within the amounts appropriated therefor funds will be made
available to each social services district for heating fuel crisis
assistance. If a county or city social services district incurs
expenditures in excess of its allocated amount, the county or city as
the case may be shall be liable for such expenditures. Funds will be
allocated by the department according to the following formula: Five
percent of the funds shall be set aside by the department to be used in
meeting any unanticipated heating fuel related crisis caused by
especially severe weather. All remaining funds and set aside funds which
are unexpended by April first, nineteen hundred eighty shall be
allocated according to the following formula: Twenty percent of the
funds shall be allocated equally to every county and the remaining
eighty percent shall be allocated to the fifty-seven counties outside
the city of New York and the city of New York based on the corrected
product of the percentage of state's poverty population residing in each
county, the average heating degree days for the county divided by the
state average and the percentage of county population which is aged
divided by the percentage of state population which is aged.

When thirty percent of the funds are obligated the department will
review the expenditures of program funds for the elderly with a view
toward increasing outreach and support services if this priority
population is not being reached.

When fifty percent of the funds are obligated, the department will
review the initial allocation to determine variances in utilization and
make appropriate adjustments or transfers.

11. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the commissioner determines that
a federally funded program of energy crisis assistance is in effect and
is duplicative in whole or part to the program provided for in this
section the commissioner shall notify the local social services district
in writing of such determination of duplication and the date after which
state reimbursement for all or part of the expenditures made pursuant to
this section shall not be authorized.

12. For purposes of this section, the term "home heating fuel" shall
mean fuel oil, coal, wood, propane, natural gas, electricity, steam,
kerosene and any other fuel when used for residential heating purposes.

* NB Expired October 1, 1980